Part 20 (1/2)
”Let the days come when the children of America--the earth is the Lord's--shall 'come with weeping, and seek the Lord their G.o.d;' when 'they shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward;' when they shall come, saying, 'Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten.' O the Hope of Israel and Saviour thereof, is not that day and that time come? Hast thou not been working on the right hand and on the left? Thou hast given us pastors according to thine own heart, who feed us with knowledge and understanding: and thou art here and there proving thy gospel thy power and thy wisdom, to the salvation of sinners; casting down the imaginations of pride, and bringing all into subjection to thy Son Jesus.
”O pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, upon thy living members, that they may wrestle with thee, and not let thee go until thou bless us, until thou make this 'cloud like a man's hand' cover our heavens with blackness, and issue in a plentiful rain. O pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; thy Spirit upon our seed, and thy blessing upon our offspring. O Lord, hast thou not said that thou wilt do it, and that they shall spring up as among the gra.s.s, and as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's, another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Amen, O our G.o.d, Amen.
”Last week the Lord's young servant, Mr. R----, received to the communion of the church seven adults, Mrs. B---- and her two daughters, Dr. H---- and sister, Mr. C----, and a black woman, servant to Mr. H----. It was a glorious sight, and revived the hearts of G.o.d's people who witnessed it. O G.o.d of grace, grant that the fruits of righteousness may prove that they are broken off from the wild olive-tree, and grafted into thee, thou living and life-giving olive-tree; from thee must their fruit be found. O cause them to bring forth much fruit. Herein is the Father glorified, that they bear much fruit; so shall they be Christ's disciples, and attain to the a.s.surance of that happy state. Father, glorify thy name. Amen.”
In the year 1810, while bathing at Rockaway, she was carried by the surf beyond her depth, and for some time there was scarcely a hope of her regaining the sh.o.r.e. Her grandchildren were weeping on the beach, and the company a.s.sembled there were afflicted but hopeless spectators of her danger. At that moment of peril she prayed to the Lord for deliverance, but acquiesced in his will, if he should see fit to take her to himself in this manner. Able to swim a little, she kept herself afloat for some time: she became at length very faint; and when her friends on the beach apprehended her lost, they perceived that the waves had impelled her somewhat nearer to them. A gentleman present, and her female attendant, stepped into the surf and extending their arms for mutual support, one of them was enabled to lay hold on Mrs. Graham's bathing-gown and to pull her towards them. When they brought her ash.o.r.e she was much exhausted, and had swallowed a considerable quant.i.ty of water. It was some hours before she revived, when she addressed the company in a very serious and impressive manner that affected them to tears. Her health during the following winter was much impaired by the shock it had received.
”ROCKAWAY, June 15, 1810.
”Came here the first of the month, with the children in the whooping-cough. No 'church-going bell' here, but the Lord is everywhere; and I have found him here, warming my heart with grat.i.tude and contrition, and drawing it out in prayer for his people met to wors.h.i.+p in his sanctuary.
”When at a distance from my own people, it has been my practice to join with whatever cla.s.s of professing Christians might be near me.
Here it has been with the Methodists, who, I believe, enjoy communion with G.o.d. Yesterday I went to a meeting of ----, who lay great stress on good morals; but, O my G.o.d, what could I do, shut up with them?
Without the finished work of my Saviour, I could have no hope; without his law-fulfilling righteousness, I must stand a law-condemned sinner.
”The preacher yesterday took no text; in the course of his sermon he said the Scriptures were only secondary guides. He began with the importance of thinking of death, and said it could not be possible for a rational being to live carelessly, with thoughts of death and eternity in view. Is it so? No; we see sinners die, under the full conviction that they are dying, as thoughtless as they have lived.
”He said, that by constantly attending to the motions of the Spirit and complying with them, Christians arrived at a state of perfection even here; and brought in that text, 'He that is born of G.o.d cannot sin,' etc. Spoke highly of watchfulness, and avoiding connection with the world; said a real Christian could not hold any office of power among men. Paul held one, but he gave it up when he became an apostle. Christ's kingdom was not of this world. Laws and officers were necessary among the men of the world, but not among Christians. Spoke of the cross of Christ as consisting in suffering and self-denial. His blood was the Spirit which cleansed from all sin, by delivering all who obeyed him from its power. He named not my blessed Saviour, except when he had occasion to mention some of his moral sayings. He said, indeed, that he was the Light that lightened every man that came into the world, and the condemnation was that men would not receive it; but one word of his blessed priesthood he spoke not, but said we were in a state of probation, and every one would be judged according to his works, taking into view the advantages he had enjoyed; recommended the reading of the Scriptures, especially the inspired books, the New Testament and the prophets; for it needed no inspiration to write the national history of the Jews more than that of any other nation. Said the Scriptures were good secondary guides, and contained excellent lessons and truths.
”When I was coming away he offered me his hand, saying that I was not a resident there. I answered no, I was separated from my own people, but wished to unite with any cla.s.s of Christians who met professedly to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d; but confessed I could not live upon what he had this day delivered. He asked what was wrong. I answered, he had given some good exhortations; I agreed with him in many things respecting conduct; but I missed the foundation. He repeated the scriptures, 'Other foundation can no man lay,' etc. I said, Exactly: off this foundation there is no salvation; on this foundation there may be loss, but no condemnation. We have a great and merciful High-priest, who can have compa.s.sion on the ignorant, and them who are out of the way; and there may be straw, hay, stubble, which will be burnt up, but the soul itself, being on the foundation, is safe. He said with firmness, That will be burnt up in this world; without holiness no man shall see the Lord. I said, True; but why avoid the tenor of Scripture? read all the epistles; the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of G.o.d, the propitiatory sacrifice, the meritorious law-fulfilling righteousness, is set forth, in every one of them, as that which saves from wrath and ent.i.tles to eternal life. He said they were all emblems of our being made holy in heart and life; Christians were baptized unto the death of Christ, and rise with him to newness of life, buried with him, etc. I granted that as one reading of these words. He said every other view was shadow. I said, No--the blood of bulls and goats is shadow; Christ himself, his person, his offices, his life, his sufferings, his death, his burial, resurrection, ascension, and intercession within the veil, are all substance--the sole foundation of my hope, and my only plea at a throne of grace.
”Dear Name, the rock on which I build, My s.h.i.+eld and hiding-place, My never-failing treasury, filled With boundless stores of grace.
Jesus, my Husband, Shepherd, Friend, My Prophet, Priest, and King, My Lord, my life, my way, my end, Accept the praise I bring.”
”ROCKAWAY, August, 1810.
”Hebrews is my ordinary, when no other pa.s.sage of Scripture attracts my particular attention. This is the third morning I have opened the New Testament on the 14th chapter of John, and have fed delightfully on the first three verses. There is at all times a thorn in my heart, keeping me in continual remembrance of my vile, ungrateful backslidings, so that I eat my sweetest morsels with bitter herbs. It was particularly painful to me this morning; nevertheless; the Lord G.o.d, merciful and gracious, repeated on my heart, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' I was arrested at the fourth verse, 'Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.' I have had many comfortable exercises on the eighth verse, the Redeemer's answer to Philip's inquiry. But this morning my mind was led to a different view of that saying, and which I think was literally included. The Redeemer was going to his Father, and his way lay through death, the death of the cross. The hour was at hand when he was to make his holy and righteous soul an offering for sin, that he might become the author of salvation to all who obey him. All the sins confessed and pardoned by the sacrifices under the law were laid on this blessed Surety--they were only the shadows, he was the substance--the real Lamb of G.o.d which taketh away the sin of the world, was now to be offered up. This was he who said, 'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in burnt-offerings and offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure; then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O G.o.d:' by which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
”He was going to the garden--Oh that garden! Peter had said he was able to drink of that cup and to be baptized with that baptism. Ah no, Peter; that exceeding sorrow in the garden, when no visible hand was upon him, was a cup the least drop of which would have overwhelmed the strongest angel. No strength short of omnipotent could have sustained that hour and power of darkness. It was not the scourge, the thorns, the nails, nor the last pangs of dissolution; through all these he was as a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers, dumb. It was a mysterious horror, of which no created being can have any conception. It was this that wrung the great drops of blood through every pore of his sacred body--this that extorted the agonizing prayer, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pa.s.s from me;' and again, in his last moments on the cross, 'My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me?' Blessed, for ever blessed be our Jehovah Jesus, who said, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' The will of G.o.d was done, and he said, 'It is finished,' and gave up the ghost.
”All his people must follow him by the way of death; nearly all his disciples followed by the death of the cross, and many others after them, supported by his almighty grace, rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake; but they drank not of that cup.
”Some of his people, for holy and wise purposes, have had a taste in the hiding of G.o.d's face, but no curse; that he himself drank to the last drop: He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him. By his own death he destroyed him that had the power of death, and secured victory to all his followers: he changed its aspect from that of the king of terrors to that of a welcome messenger from their redeeming G.o.d, to conduct them to those blessed mansions which he has purchased and prepared for them; neither will he leave them alone with that messenger: 'And if I go, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. The world seeth me no more, but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' Amen. 'Come, Lord Jesus.'
”'Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my G.o.d: yea, thy law is in my heart.'
Psalm 40:6. 'Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein--which are offered by the law--then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O G.o.d. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of G.o.d. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,' in consequence of Christ's doing the will of G.o.d, fulfilling all righteousness: 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having, therefore, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a High-priest over the house of G.o.d; let us draw near with a true heart, in full a.s.surance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.' Hebrews 10:8-23; 8:10. Again, 'The Lord sware, and will not repent; thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament; because he continueth ever, and hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,' Heb. 7:21-25. 'Christ glorified not himself to be made a high-priest, but He that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee; as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' Heb. 5:5, 6. 'For the law maketh men high-priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.' Heb. 7:28. 'The word which G.o.d sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all. How G.o.d anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for G.o.d was with him. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.'” Acts 10:36-38, 43.
How well she was qualified to give instruction to young disciples, will appear in the following letters to two, who died shortly after of consumption.
To Miss Van Wyck, New York.
”ROCKAWAY, 1810.
”MY DEAR, MY BELOVED ELIZA--Mr. and Mrs. B---- are here on a visit for one night. I did not expect to see them so soon, or I would have had a letter ready. I expect another opportunity in the course of a few days, when I will send you a long letter, from my heart, and, I hope, dictated by your and my Teacher.